четвъртък, 9 април 2015 г.

Long time without posting again. I need all the world tranquility to cook,
style, shoot and post new recipes. If there’s not such thing – there are no
posts, you know. Today I am cheating a bit – I have the pics and recipe ready
from an assignment which was waiting to be shown, and I stole 20 mins to wrap
it up.So it’s Easter again, and this year (as usual) the Orthodox is a week later then the Catolic one. In our tradition Easter means colored eggs, roasted lamb, green salad and Kozunak. This is a sweet bread, similar to babka or baba or colomba, made with eggs, milk, butter, sugar and candied fruits or chocolate. Every family has its own recipe and every year along the whole country there’s one trouble: will the kozunaks prove?

And here is the recipe:

Kozunak wreath

600 g flour

pinch of salt

3 large eggs

100 ml milk

125 g butter, melted

125 g caster sugar

20 g fresh yeast (or 7 g dry)

lemon zest

vanilla extract

For the filling

20 g cocoa

40 g sugar

50 g sultanas, soaked in rum for 30 min

50 g walnuts ore almonds, coarsely chopped

1 egg yolk, loosened with a fork

1-2 tbsp crystal sugar

1. Sift the flour in a bowl, add salt, vanilla and lemon zest. If using fresh yeast, dilute it in a glass with part of the milk and 1 tbsp sugar. If using dry yeast, just add it to the flour. Beat the eggs and sugar in separate bowl. When the fresh yeast is ready, add it to the flour and start kneading by adding the egg mixture and rest of the milk. Knead until all the liquids are absorbed. Put the dough on the working surface and knead for 10 min. Start adding the melted butter with your hands. Knead until all the butter is absorbed and your dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a slightly oiled bowl, cover with damp cloth and leave in a warm place until doubled in size – this will take about 2 hours, depending on room temperature.

2. Once doubled in size, knead the dough again for 2-3 min to knock out the air bubbles, and roll to a big rectangle. Mix cocoa and sugar and spread all over. Spread the nuts and drained sultanas and roll on a long roll. Make a circle and place on a baking form lined with parchment. Make vertical cuts into the roll without cutting all the way to the center and tilt the cut pieces on one side. Put a buttered glass in the center and leave the kozunak to prove again for 35-45 min.

3. Heat the oven to 200°С. Gently glaze the top of the Kozunak with the egg yolk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10-15 min and turn the oven down to 180°С and bake for another 30-40 min. If browning to quick, cover with foil.

me :-)

Hello, people!
I am a food photographer from Sofia, Bulgaria. In my blog you will find beautiful and mouthwatering food pictures, accompanied with lovely and easy to make (usually) recipes. I'd love to hear from you, do you like them, do you like cooking, what inspires you. If you leave me some comments, I will be happier than ever, knowing that someone else love the same stuff as me :-)
See you around! ♡